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Tutorial:Scrap recycling strategies

2026-02-27T06:37:38Z

Solar138: /* Getting rid of excess ingredients */ fix missing word

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Unlike with most other resources, processing [[scrap]] yields a variety of items, which is the most reliable source of obtaining most resources on [[Fulgora]] (aside from importing goods from other planets via the [[space platform]]). So it is important to understand how to use [[scrap]] on [[Fulgora]] to build a factory capable of crafting [[Electromagnetic science pack]]s and launching them into space.

== Recycling fundamentals ==
[[Scrap]] can be gathered from [[Fulgoran ruin]]s or by mining patches of scrap scattered throughout [[Fulgora]]. Scrap can be recycled by hand or with the [[recycler]]. But before this can be done, the player will need to mine a [[Fulgoran vault ruin]] by hand to unlock the recycling recipe and the recycler. Mining scrap with mining drills and recycling them with the recycler is the most effective means of building a factory on Fulgora. The Recycler has an output; it can output its products directly onto a belt or into other entities, like the [[active provider chest]] or even other recyclers. Strategies for dealing with excess products are discussed later in this tutorial.

=== What is each recycled product used for? ===
Recycling scrap produces 12 different items, with [[holmium ore]] and [[low density structure]] being the rarest product, and [[iron gear wheel]] being the most common. Of the 12 different items, three of them serve a singular purpose:
* [[Ice]] is melted into [[water]]
* [[Solid fuel]] is combined with [[light oil]] to make [[rocket fuel]].
* [[Holmium ore]] is combined with water and [[stone]] to make [[holmium solution]].

Water has various uses but it should be relatively easy to move around with [[pipe]]s. Rocket fuel is mainly used to craft [[rocket part]]s, but it can be used as fuel for your trains on Fulgora or burnt to provide power. Light oil is needed to produce rocket fuel, which is cracked from [[heavy oil]] and water. Heavy oil is a limitless resource on Fulgora and it is pumped from the [[oil ocean]] by using an [[offshore pump]].

The remaining 9 items produced by scrap recycling are used as ingredients for other products, as crafting components for rocket parts, or further recycled into their respective ingredients; some items can only be obtained this way. While each item can be recycled, only the necessary recyclable items for building a factory capable of crafting science packs on Fulgora are mentioned below.
* [[Processing unit]]s are used as rocket parts, as ingredients for the recycler and [[electromagnetic plant]], and it can be recycled into [[electronic circuit]]s.
* [[Advanced circuit]]s can be recycled for [[electronic circuit]]s and [[plastic bar]]s.
* [[Low density structure]]s are used as rocket parts and can be recycled for [[copper plate]]s and [[plastic bar]]s.
* [[Concrete]] is mostly used to craft [[refined concrete]], but it is also used to craft the recycler. Concrete can be recycled into [[stone brick]]s. The only purpose of stone bricks is to craft the [[lightning rod]].
* [[Battery|Batteries]] are used to craft [[accumulator]]s and [[supercapacitor]]s. It can be recycled down to copper plates and [[iron plate]]s.
* [[Copper cable]] can be recycled for [[copper plate]]s.
* [[Iron gear wheel]]s can be recycled for [[iron plate]]s.
* [[Steel]] is mostly used to craft [[refined concrete]], but it is also used to craft the recycler and electromagnetic plant.
* [[Stone]] is used to craft [[holmium solution]] and [[electrolyte]].

==== Other necessary ingredients ====
Electronic circuits, plastic bars, copper plates, iron plates, and stone bricks are only obtained by recycling a recycled piece of scrap.
* [[Electronic circuit]]s are most easily obtained from processing units. Obtaining them from advanced circuits is also a viable way, since advanced circuits are slightly more common and, with regards to [[electromagnetic science pack]]s, don't serve any purpose other than being recycled. Electronic circuits are mainly used for crafting [[supercapacitor]]s.
* [[Plastic bar]]s are most easily obtained from low density structures, but advanced circuits are also a good source for the same reasons listed in the above point. Plastic bars are mainly used to craft [[superconductor]]s.
* [[Copper plate]]s are most easily obtained from low density structures, but being one of the most rare scrap product, it may be better to recycle any of the three circuits down to copper plates (with electronic circuits having the best yields), or by recycling batteries or copper cable.
* [[Iron plate]]s are best obtained from recycling iron gear wheels, which are abundant.
* [[Stone brick]]s can be obtained by recycling concrete and smelting stone. They are needed for crafting lightning rods to protect the factory and provide power.

With these items, the player has all the intermediate products needed to craft Fulgora's [[electromagnetic science pack]] and launch it into space!

== Getting rid of excess ingredients ==
Scrap recycling will never yield the exact distribution of items that players might need. With scrap recycling, this is a problem; unlike on Nauvis, where not having enough iron consumption will simply pause iron production and nothing else, to pause production of one scrap recycling product is to pause scrap recycling altogether. In other words, if not every item produced by scrap recycling is consumed, then the belts will back up, and scrap recycling is stopped from producing any items at all.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to use every item that scrap recycling produces. Some items have a limited set of applications that are not always relevant. Other times, you will need more of one item than another, causing an imbalance in what items are consumed.

When an item has no other uses, it may therefore be necessary to destroy it outright. There is a way to do this: When trying to recycle an item that has no recyclable recipe, a recycler will output the item itself with a 25% probability, leaving a 75% probability of destroying it. By looping the output of such a Recycler back into itself, it is possible to completely destroy these items.

Be warned that scrap, while bountiful on some islands, is still a finite resource that can run out if wasted carelessly. And if all items produced by recycling have drains that simply destroy the items, it is possible to consume scrap even when the factory does not need it.

=== Efficiently trashing excess ===

Some items produced directly or indirectly from scrap recycling have long crafting times. Especially bad is steel, which in an unmoduled recycler takes 2 seconds to recycle one steel, or 2.66 seconds in total considering the 25% chance of not destroying it.

Some of these slow-to-recycle products can be crafted into other items at higher rates than they can be recycled. Steel can be turned into steel chests at 20 steel per second inside an unmoduled normal yellow assembler. This can then in turn be recycled back down to steel even more quickly due to the 16× recycling speedup. Considering the recycling yield, a yellow assembler without modules can handle 15 steel per second, and a recycler 96, compared to a recycler for steel which handles 0.375 steel per second.

Some such shortcuts are (speed comparison assuming one [[assembling machine 3]] and recycler at crafting speeds 1.25 and 0.5):
* [[Steel plate|Steel]] to [[steel chest]] (40× speedup)
* [[Iron plate|Iron]] to [[iron chest]] (8× speedup)
* [[Concrete]] to [[hazard concrete]] (6.25× speedup)
* [[Stone]] to [[landfill]] (10.42× speedup) – note that landfill is unrecyclable so needs to be looped back into the recycler, not the assembler. An [[assembling machine 3]] making landfill can consume 125 stone per second; no single [[Inserters|inserter]] of any quality can keep pace with that, even from a chest (though legendary [[stack inserter]]s come very close).
* [[Stone brick]]s to [[wall]]s (5× speedup)

[[Copper plate]]s to [[copper cable]]s is the same speed as direct recycling. Mixing in copper with steel at 2:1 to make [[heat pipe]]s is a 10× speedup, as long as enough steel is trashed together with the copper.

=== Low-priority production ===
As an alternative to outright destroying the excess items, it may be possible to turn them into something that might be useful later, so that the items are not completely wasted. For example, instead of recycling all excess steel, the player could instead craft steel chests for additional storage, or [[substation]]s to expand the electric grid at a later point. The point is not to make something that the player will need right away, as that is the job of the main production lines. Rather, it is to be seen as a bonus that players might want but do not need.

It should be noted that even these products will eventually fill up all storage and cause backups in the production line, meaning that destroying items might still become necessary in the long term.

Inserting [[quality module]]s into recyclers is another way to manage excess ingredients while also obtaining higher quality items without simply recycling items to destruction. Producing higher quality items can consume a lot of ingredients and are often nice to have without being outright necessary.

== Other tips and tricks ==

=== Recycling with quality modules ===
The recycler does not accept [[productivity module]]s. This is to prevent a net positive of items from being created when crafting and recycling items in a loop. However, this rejection of productivity modules in recyclers also applies to scrap recycling, even though there is no way to re-craft scrap from the results of recycling. In exchange, the game offers infinite research for increasing the productivity of scrap recycling, specifically. This all means that players are free to use a different kind of module, such as quality modules, without worrying about the loss of productivity.

Players may chose to place quality modules in their scrap recyclers and sort the items by quality, sending [[File:Quality normal.png|15px|link=]]normal normal items to the main factory and using higher-quality items for a head start in quality manufacturing.

However, players should keep in mind that, much like productivity, quality modules benefit from long production chains, as it increases the number of chances for item quality to be increased. Even after sorting away all [[File:Quality normal.png|15px|link=]]normal items, only 10% of the remaining items will be [[File:Quality rare.png|15px|link=]]rare or better, as the probability of skipping a quality tier will always be 10% regardless of modules.

It should also be noted that [[File:Quality uncommon.png|15px|link=]]uncommon or higher [[holmium ore]] is not actually better than [[File:Quality normal.png|15px|link=]]normal holmium ore. The sole use of holmium ore is to be used as an ingredient for [[holmium solution]], which is a fluid and therefore has no quality. Furthermore, producing holmium solution from a particular quality of holmium ore requires having a [[chemical plant]] whose recipe is set to that quality as well as having sufficient [[stone]] of that exact quality. Both of these can be automated via the [[circuit network]], but it does require some set up.

Asteroids

2025-02-16T02:58:36Z

Solar138: Fix section link

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{{Stub}}
{{About/Space age}}
[[File:asteroids_anim.gif|right]]'''Asteroids''' are floating minerals found in space. There are four types of asteroids in [[Space Age]]: metallic, carbonic, oxide and promethium. Promethium asteroids are only encountered when en route to the [[shattered planet]]. Asteroids appear around stationary [[space platform]]s. If a space platform is travelling through space with a [[thruster]], asteroids are encountered much faster. [[Asteroid collector]]s can collect [[Asteroids#Asteroid chunks|asteroid chunks]]. The resources collected from asteroid chunks can be fed into a [[crusher]], grinding the chunks into useful resources.

When travelling through space, asteroids will appear in front of the space platform and damage it on contact. This means that [[turret]]s should be properly placed (mainly at the top) of the platform to prevent this and asteroid collectors should be used to collect the chunks.

The density of asteroids can be seen by going to the [[Remote view]] > '''Surfaces''' > '''Space Map''' and alt-clicking on the interplanetary route to bring up the route in Factoriopedia, or by searching "route". The graph will show a white vertical line overlay on the asteroid graph corresponding to the ship's position when underway.

== Asteroid types ==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Description !! Health !! [[Damage#Resistance|Resistances]]
|-
| Asteroid chunks
| Harmless.

Does not have health and are instantly destroyed on contact with the space platform.

Can be collected by [[asteroid collector]]s.

| N/A
| N/A
|-
| Small asteroids
| Do not spawn naturally. Produce chunks on destruction.

Does small damage on contact with the space platform.

| 100

|
*Electric: 100%
*Explosion: 50%
*Fire: 100%
*Laser: 20%

|-
| Medium asteroids
| Spawn in space and in orbit of planets other than [[Nauvis]]. Split into small asteroids when destroyed.

Does medium damage. Can destroy several foundations before expiring. Heavily resistant to laser damage.

| 400

|
*Electric: 100%
*Explosion: 30%
*Fire: 100%
*Laser: 90%
*Physical: 10%

|-
| Big asteroids
| Spawn in space beyond [[Fulgora]] and [[Gleba]]. Split into medium asteroids when destroyed.
Practically immune to physical and laser damage

Does large amount of damage. Can go right through the space platform destroying everything on its path. <br>Because of the high flat physical resistance, [[gun turret]]s are ineffective against them, and has an even higher laser resistance than its medium counterpart.

| 2000

|
*Electric: 100%
*Explosion: 10%
*Fire: 100%
*Laser: 95%
*Physical: 2000/10%

|-
| Huge asteroids
| Spawn in space beyond [[Aquilo]]. Split into large asteroids when destroyed.

Will absolutely destroy the space platform if it is not equipped with a turret<br>that can overcome its enormous flat physical resistance, e.g. a [[railgun turret]].

| 5000

|
*Electric: 100%
*Explosion: 99%
*Fire: 100%
*Laser: 99%
*Physical: 3000/10%

|}
'''Note:''' Promethium asteroids have twice the health of the three standard asteroid types (200/800/4000/10000)

== Asteroid chunks ==
'''Asteroid chunks''' are the smallest asteroids in the game, serving as the sole resource source in space. Due to their size and low mass, these small chunks will not damage the player's space platform when colliding with it, as larger asteroids do. They will also slowly gravity to the space platform, as if the platform has a gravitational pull, making it easier to collect them. To maintain sustainability, space platforms can be equipped with both [[asteroid collector]] and [[crusher]]. These chunks come in four distinct varieties, each of which can be processed into valuable materials using crushers. [[Advanced_asteroid_processing_(research)|Advanced asteroid processing research]] unlocks the ability to extract additional materials from these chunks.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Asteroid Processing
|-
! [[Asteroids]] !! Processed into !! Advanced processing
|-
| {{IconLink|Metallic asteroid chunk}} || {{IconLink|Iron ore}} || {{IconLink|Copper ore}}
|-
| {{IconLink|Carbonic asteroid chunk}} || {{IconLink|Carbon}} || {{IconLink|Sulfur}}
|-
| {{IconLink|Oxide asteroid chunk}} || {{IconLink|Ice}} || {{IconLink|Calcite}}
|-
| {{IconLink|Promethium asteroid chunk}} || Cannot be processed, is a component to the [[promethium science pack]]. || -
|}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:metallic_asteroid_entity.png|Metallic asteroids.
File:carbonic_asteroid_entity.png|Carbonic asteroids.
File:oxide_asteroid_entity.png|Oxide asteroids.
File:promethium_asteroid_entity.png|Promethium asteroids.
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Space platform]]
* [[Asteroid collector]]

{{SpaceNav}}

User:Solar138

2024-08-28T23:35:21Z

Solar138: Created user page.

I do some graphic designs and diagrams.

File:Nuclear setup.png

2024-08-27T16:54:26Z

Solar138: Solar138 uploaded a new version of File:Nuclear setup.png

Diagram showing the process for making power with uranium

File:Nuclear setup.png

2024-08-27T16:47:27Z

Solar138: Solar138 uploaded a new version of File:Nuclear setup.png

Diagram showing the process for making power with uranium